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Everyone should own at least one goldwing, imho
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Mar 23, 2024 14:51
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 10:46 |
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Zack (of Zack and Ari) got his hands on the new LiveWire S2 Del Mar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di_LKtdYOqk
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Mar 23, 2024 20:00
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I know electric bikes come with a good handful of compromises that don't thrill anyone who's actually ridden a motorcycle, and I didn't expect it to break into the top half of the leaderboards, but I was still bummed to see it rank below an HD Nightster as a commuter. The actual range figures were surprising. My electric motorcycle has a battery less than half as big than the S2 Del Mar's, and I'm getting around 60 miles around town in sport mode.
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Mar 23, 2024 21:54
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The only downside of electric motorcycle is the lack of range and charging speed and/or infrastructure. I can't think of any others. Check out this mad lad, building his own ebikes on whatever frame he fished out of a pond this week. I got to hang out with them in daytona, and geek out over all his projects. https://www.instagram.com/shandokacycles?igsh=MXE3ZnN4NTg5eWNvOA== His efficiency numbers are way higher than the S2 in the video, btw Nitrox fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Mar 24, 2024 |
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Mar 24, 2024 00:00
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I really wish there were electric-bike-in-a-box kits, so to speak, because I have an RV90 sitting in my attic with a fragged transmission and it would be a prime candidate for a conversion, but I don’t really want to put the work in to source every individual part.
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Mar 24, 2024 00:58
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I talked about it here when I rode it, but the scooter/moto shop our partner works at did an electric conversion on a 50’s 50cc Vespa and it’s the scariest thing I’ve ridden. Too much power, too little brakes. It’d try to wheelie and then you’d have to squeeze and stomp the brake for a good block to come to a stop.
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Mar 24, 2024 01:11
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There are electric bicycle conversion kits on Amazon or elsewhere. You get a new wheel with a hot motor that replaces your existing front wheel, and then the lump of a battery that you get to a fixed to a frame somewhere. That's basically it.
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Mar 24, 2024 03:26
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Basically it. When I e-converted my first bike I had to lace the motor to a separately bought rim since I couldn't source what I wanted out of the box back then, but once I got that in order it probably took two hours of tinkering until I was outside for the first motorized test run. With a bunch of stuff jankily held in place with zip ties, hose clamps and tape (and not enough brakes). Getting the bike done took much, much longer and was way more involved. E: the bike is still not done if I'm being honest, and it's been about a decade now. Lol. I'm fixing to do it though 
Invalido fucked around with this message at 05:36 on Mar 24, 2024 |
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Mar 24, 2024 05:34
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I know about the Amazon/ebay/alibaba e-bicycle kits, but I’ve never seen an e-motorcycle kit
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Mar 24, 2024 05:44
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I think there's good reason for that. There's no universal form factors that would easily work in lots of motorcycles. I'm sure you could develop a kit that would work in one single bike model though, but there's probably not money to be made by doing it.
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Mar 24, 2024 05:55
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Just sell me the motor, electronics and batteries and I’ll make it work, dammit. I realize I’m in the minority on that.
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Mar 24, 2024 05:59
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These two kits aren't terribly far off from what I think you say you want: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006059701315.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006618192238.html Or this bad boy with gears and everything so the sprocket is offset, hopefully closer to where it needs to go for good chain geometry: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006586866102.html There are battery builders on Ali too who will spot weld up a 72V or whatever pack with a BMS in the dimensions you specify. Sometimes the dimensions are a few mm off and you have to move the BMS cables around to make the pack fit in the allocated space. I know this from personal experience. I've been meaning to procure a nickel strip spot welder and learn doing this for myself for a long time but managed to procrastinate this through learning to take care of my battery packs so they last a long time.
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Mar 24, 2024 06:20
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Jazzzzz posted:Zack (of Zack and Ari) got his hands on the new LiveWire S2 Del Mar: Downsize the wheels to 17", add a second front rotor, switch to a comfy seat and this starts to look appealing.
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Mar 25, 2024 14:41
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Invalido posted:These two kits aren't terribly far off from what I think you say you want: Whoa that last one is rad, and for 2.6hp, the gears might be needed
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Mar 25, 2024 15:50
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It comes in the color "3000w" too! Seems like Ali is full of interesting e-moto parts. This kit has a 4kW nominal rated motor (at least in the e-bike world the peak effect at high torque is commonly significantly higher, nearly double nominal on my commuter bike). This motor has an offset sprocket too. You can get a liquid cooled variant of the motor but the one in the kit is air cooled which should probably be ok given 90%+ efficiency and street riding. Also bundled is controller, throttle, switches for the left hand and an lcd panel: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006064243537.html
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Mar 25, 2024 17:28
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metallicaeg posted:Downsize the wheels to 17", add a second front rotor, switch to a comfy seat and this starts to look appealing. Smaller wheels usually have a good impact on the range too, although not sure how much it would be on a motorcycle.
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Mar 25, 2024 22:00
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It has the street version of Dunlop's flat track race tire (or I guess, the street tire styled like the flat track race tire). Indian's FTR used to be the same way. I think it's a very good looking bike and changing the wheel size would negatively affect its proportions. 100 mi range and an out-the-door price of nearly 18k is pretty much a non starter for me, though. It has been said here before, but existing battery technology doesn't package well in bike format. I think 125cc equivalent scooters make more sense, because scooters are more for going 10 miles or less at a time, and there isn't really any expectation of performance, so a hub mounted motor is fine, freeing up room for the battery. You lose the under seat cargo space, but a top case looks fine.
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Mar 25, 2024 22:38
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I think electric motorcycle makes sense as a cruiser. Low horsepower high torque hub motor in the rear, 20-30 kwh battery pack mounted like engine on a goldwing, and an actual fairings for lower drag coefficiency. A full dresser Harley weighs like a thousand pounds, this is not going to be much heavier. An instant torque will absolutely make it feel way more agile than it is. If you give it a Tesla plug and fast charging capabilities, it ought go just as good as a gas bike And yes, electric scooters make a whole lot of sense as well
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Mar 26, 2024 01:11
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I've said it before, but I road a Livewire at a track day, for a session, and really enjoyed it. I think an EV track bike could be a lot of fun if battery technology could somehow advance to a point where they don't weigh 600 lbs and have a 100 mi range. Fortunately for the Livewire, the weight was so low on the bike that it didn't feel all that heavy. I sat on an Energica of some sort at the Aprilia dealer and it felt extremely heavy.
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Mar 26, 2024 03:36
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MetaJew posted:I've said it before, but I road a Livewire at a track day, for a session, and really enjoyed it. There is a whole race series for such a thing, Ducati make them and I assume you'll be able to buy one sooner or later
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Mar 26, 2024 03:48
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Nitrox posted:I think electric motorcycle makes sense as a cruiser. See I'm on the opposite side of that. I think an electric motorcycle makes the most sense as a supermoto for ripping around urban environments. 300 pounds, 60+ mile range, tons of torque and suspension. Batteries will never be as energy-dense as liquid fuel, so if you try to build in a lot of range, the electric bike will always be heavier than the gas bike. It's extremely apparent with electric cars; a Tesla 3 weighs like 1500 pounds more than a comparably sized Corolla. Also, you will never beat wind resistance. You always need more energy to go faster -- end of story. Gas cars get better mileage on the highway in spite of this because their engines are more efficient in cruise. With electric vehicles it's a pure energy-demand situation, so EVs will always have shittier range on road trips than around town. People are going to have to get used to that concept. The long and short is: EVs want to be small, short-range, zippy little things. That's the envelope in which their technology works the best and that's why e-bikes are suddenly so popular. An e-bike is too small for what I want, but the 300-pound e-supermoto... A Zero FXE is almost perfect! If it had 1 hour charging I'd probably buy one today. As it is I'm probably gonna buy one later this year anyway but that's the only thing it needs to make it perfect. Let EV bikes be what they want to be. If you want to take a long ride, that's what gasoline is for. Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 04:07
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The perfect conditions Zero needs to charge the FXE's battery in 1.3 hours are ridiculous and they should be slapped for using that figure on their advertising. You have to go digging to find actual charge times: 9+ hours from empty using only the onboard charging system. 1.3 hours to charge requires 4 external accessory chargers, each of which costs around $800, and only charges the battery to 95%. Each of those chargers will likely also require its own 15 amp circuit, or a beefier circuit run just for bike charging, since they pull as much as 1500W apiece.
Jazzzzz fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 15:31
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Yeah it's an incredibly dumb system. The four daisy-chained charger thing I could understand back in 2012, when they were a garage fabricator startup, but today it's just stupid and hacky. Their bigger motorcycles at least have a J1772 (220v EV) connector, which will charge in two or three hours. I don't know why that isn't on the smaller bikes yet. It can't add that much weight.
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Mar 26, 2024 17:48
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Jazzzzz posted:The perfect conditions Zero needs to charge the FXE's battery in 1.3 hours are ridiculous and they should be slapped for using that figure on their advertising. You have to go digging to find actual charge times: 9+ hours from empty using only the onboard charging system. 1.3 hours to charge requires 4 external accessory chargers, each of which costs around $800, and only charges the battery to 95%. Each of those chargers will likely also require its own 15 amp circuit, or a beefier circuit run just for bike charging, since they pull as much as 1500W apiece. Lmao what
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Mar 26, 2024 18:29
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And I think the livewire has some wild recommendation that for every time you use fast charging, you should use level 1 charging 3-4 times. I'm not sure sure how strong that recommendation is. But I imagine following that guidance would ruin someone's commute
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Mar 26, 2024 18:40
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Sometimes I'm out of gas in the morning and too lazy to go to the gas station. If I get lucky, there's some sweet non-Ethanol in my dirt bike cans I can dump in, enough to get me to work and kick the can down the road another day How does that work for EVs lol
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Mar 26, 2024 20:04
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It's basically assumed you are a middle class suburbanite who owns their home and used the $7,500 tax credit to install a level 2 charger in your garage. Maybe in 20-30 years charging a battery up to 80% will take as long as filling a tank of gas, but until then having to rely on public chargers sounds awful. Edit: spelling!! Toe Rag fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 20:19
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If you're low on charge and plug in before you go to bed, you should have a decent amount of juice in the morning, even at 110V. If you can't be assed to do that, you're SOL. You could order an extra battery to swap out for some bike models, but they are stupid expensive. I definitely wouldn't recommend an electric motorcycle to anyone who would need to rely on public chargers. I would be incredibly anxious about where and when I was going to plug in next.
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Mar 26, 2024 20:46
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Professor Wayne posted:And I think the livewire has some wild recommendation that for every time you use fast charging, you should use level 1 charging 3-4 times. I'm not sure sure how strong that recommendation is. But I imagine following that guidance would ruin someone's commute While most cell types support fast charging doing it regularly beats the poo poo out of their usable lifespans, hence this recommendation.
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Mar 26, 2024 21:02
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Toe Rag posted:It's basically assumed you are a middle class suburbanite who owns their home and used the $7,500 tax credit to install a level 2 charger in your garage. Maybe in 20-30 years charging a battery up to 80% will take as long as filling a tank of gas, but until then having to rely on public chargers sounds awful. I have seen two people with Nissan leafs have an altercation over an EV charger in a McDonald's carpark
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Mar 26, 2024 21:02
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Del Mar is kind of a hard sell at the price. You could be backing it in on the new Hypermotsrd Mono for less.
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Mar 26, 2024 21:44
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16K for that bike is a loving joke, full stop
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Mar 26, 2024 23:50
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The nice thing about e-bikes is that it's convenient to charge them at work. They fit into nooks and crannies and can be plugged in discretely. There are a pair of them at my job that just plug into a standard 110V extension cord which probably tops them back up after a 10 hour shift.
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Mar 27, 2024 01:29
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I adore the riding experience of my SR/F and if I had a commute I would be keeping it. But I have too many other bikes and it's depreciating like a rock (and I really don't want to own it once the battery warranty is up) so it's getting sold, whenever I can actually find a buyer. It's been a fun few years with it though.
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Mar 27, 2024 01:31
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Scam Likely posted:The nice thing about e-bikes is that it's convenient to charge them at work. They fit into nooks and crannies and can be plugged in discretely. There are a pair of them at my job that just plug into a standard 110V extension cord which probably tops them back up after a 10 hour shift. A lot of them have detachable batteries as well, that you can bring inside and charge at your desk or wherever.
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Mar 27, 2024 01:39
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Sagebrush posted:Their bigger motorcycles at least have a J1772 (220v EV) connector, which will charge in two or three hours. I don't know why that isn't on the smaller bikes yet. It can't add that much weight. I have the 7kW “charge tank” on my Zero SR, it charges 100+ km in an hour. I haven’t weighed it but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was 15kg (35 lbs). That’s a lot to add to the FXE. There’s an anecdote from when they were designing the early Zeros, they had three test prototypes and couldn’t figure out why one of them felt more “fun” than the other two, eventually they realized it was the one with 5kg less weight to it. Once they put the lighter part on the other two they felt identical again. A thing to know about slower (AC) based charging like these Zeros have: the thing attached to the wall isn’t the charger, the charger is on the vehicle. It takes in AC and transforms it, rectifies it, and shoves it into your battery. There’s a big heatsink, fan, and thick orange cables too. And worse than that, there are separate chargers for plugging into your wall (120VAC / 1kW) vs plugging into a J1772 (220VAC / 6.6kW), each with their own heatsink, transformer, rectifier, etc. The 1kW charger is the belly pan on my zero, and the 6.6kW charger is on the top of the bike. When I’m very lucky I can find a place that lets me reach a plug to both and charge at 8kW. Given all that, they decided to focus the FX / FXE on lower weight and more fun, but you get lovely slow charging as a downside. Those 4xQUIC solutions aren’t meant for joe schmoe users so much as special events or race teams (yes I know they advertise it as a practical solution and that’s lovely of them). Anyway it’s not all bad news. True fast charging is DC and doesn’t involve a charger on the vehicle. You just need a battery voltage compatible with what DC chargers will put out (typically 400V or 800V), and you need active cooling so your battery can take the power in faster. (The FXE, like my SR, has a 100V pack voltage and a potted battery with no air- or liquid-cooling). Edit: since this is the pics thread, here’s my Zero SR on my way to Moab: 
Ulf fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Mar 27, 2024 |
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Mar 27, 2024 02:21
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Oops, pic tax
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Mar 27, 2024 03:22
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It's unbelievable how much better that Zero motorcycle is when compared to S2. That price 17k price tag is just laughable. It's like trying to sell a Nissan leaf in 2024 for Tesla money. That color combination on Zero is just gorgeous. What a handsome motorcycle
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Mar 27, 2024 04:17
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Ulf posted:I have the 7kW “charge tank” on my Zero SR, it charges 100+ km in an hour. I haven’t weighed it but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was 15kg (35 lbs). That’s a lot to add to the FXE. Light is right. Who knew. Also that blue owns. Russian Bear fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Mar 27, 2024 |
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Mar 27, 2024 04:29
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 10:46 |
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 love the color on that zero
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Mar 27, 2024 04:32
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